Musings in the life of an internist, cardiologist and cardiac electrophysiologist.

Tuesday, August 09, 2011

The Cost of Our Medical Licensure Complex

You could see the frustration in his eyes as he spoke to his fellow resident.

"I had to fork over eight hundred and thirty five dollars," he said slowly in a disgusted tone, "... and that doesn't even include the $300 state license fee we have to pay later...."

So much for starting our EKG conference on time.

The comments continued. No one could understand why medical school licensure has become so expensive in the US. I thought I'd look into what medical students can expect to pay these days for licensure since it had been a while since I had gone through the gauntlet. Here's what I found out:

A good overview can be found on the Wikipedia website. I'll direct readers there who want specifics as a starter. What I was more interested in were the sheer numbers of organizations and people involved in this process of verification of credentials and managing a series of tests that have become known as the US Medical Licensure Examination (USMLE).

"Oh, you rich doctors! Everybody knows you'll make a fortune and live a life of liesure, golfing three times a week with no headaches or concerns, sleeping like a baby, flowing through life on a slipstream of money! Quitcher bitchin'!" No! Really! That's what many people think!

As a recent resident who forked over >$3000 for two sets of boards a few months ago (why did I decide to be double-boarded?), I would like to point out that every penny that I make over my resident's salary in my "real job" will go toward paying my student loans. Good thing I didn't go into medicine to play golf and not work. Like most of us, all I want to do is take good care of patients.

With the cost bubble of higher education, only the wealthy and a fortunate few top scholars will be able to attend professional schools. Some of us less academically endowed students who came from poorer backgrounds can deal with patients well and practice good medicine, but would be culled out by the exorbitant cost of medical education, today. It was difficult enough to see studentswhom we all thought would make good physicians culled out by grades, but to see it done economically doesn't bode well for the future of medical care in this country. I remember well, as a resident, having to buy a pair of loupes (glasses with built in magnifying lenses). I closed my eyes, forked over the cash, and hoped I would be able to eat the rest of the month. "It ain't easy doin' what we do!" Maybe that's why we get $40,000 for those amputations Obama talked about!

About Me

Westby G. Fisher, MD, FACC is a board certified internist, cardiologist, and cardiac electrophysiologist (doctor specializing in heart rhythm disorders) practicing at NorthShore University HealthSystem in Evanston, IL, USA and is a Clinical Associate Professor of Medicine at University of Chicago's Pritzker School of Medicine. He entered the blog-o-sphere in November, 2005.
DISCLAIMER: The opinions expressed in this blog are strictly the those of the author(s) and should not be construed as the opinion(s) or policy(ies) of NorthShore University HealthSystem, nor recommendations for your care or anyone else's. Please seek professional guidance instead.